Religious Studies Part One

Topics included: The Universe and the Place of Human Beings , Non-religious explanation of
the origin of the world, Human Nature and the Human condition, Animal rights

1.1 The Universe and the Place of Human

Beings
Religious explanation of the origin of the world

Genesis 1
God created a perfect world, everything was in harmony with each others

1. At the beginning, the earth was formless and desolate

2. Creation came about because of God’s words

3. Male and female were made at the same time (6th day), made in the image of God

4. Human was given authority over the world

5. God created a perfect world

Summary of the 1st account of creation

It depicts an ordered, good creation

Goals: the creation of man, God’s rest on the seventh day and the Sabbath

Genesis 2
Adam was made from ‘the dust’ and was given life when God breathed into him

Eve was created out of Adam’s rib to provide company and help for Adam

Shows God’s care for human beings by placing Adam in the Garden of Eden and created
Eve to be a suitable companion for Adam

Religious Studies Part One 1

 God built the garden, providing Adam all his needs, ordered him to cultivate and guard it

God expected obedience by asking them not to eat fruits from the tree

They were given the responsibility that God had created for them

Summary of the 2nd account of creation

It completes the first account and is focused on man

He was a relation to ground from which he is taken

Genesis 1 Genesis 2

Creation took 6 days Creation took 1 day

Man and women created together Man first created, then women

Humans created after animals Human created before animals

Vegetation before humans Vegetation after humans

Humans made alive by God’s words

Humans made alive by God’s breath
only

Portrays a transcendent and powerful

Portrays a personal God
creator

In the Genesis, God is…

1. God is the creator of all things

2. God is beyond all things, he is outside of the universe

3. God is eternal, he exists outside of time

4. God is transcendent (high level of knowledge)

5. God is all-powerful (omnipotent)

6. He creates from nothing (Ex nihilo)

7. God is all-loving (omnibenevolent)

God the omnipotent

God is all-powerful (creator)

God’s omnipotence is revealed in Genesis from the bible, as he created the universe out
of nothing and made a man from dust and a women from man’s rib

Religious Studies Part One 2

 Christians who have different interpretations on the Genesis account still accept that
creation shows God’s power

God the omnibenevolent

God is all-good and all-loving

God’s benevolence is shown in Genesis from the bible, as he created the world for
humans and made it a good place for them to live

He continues to show care for the world and used his creative power to show his love for
the world through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, which brought salvation

God the Omniscience

God is all-knowing, which means God’s knowledge goes beyond what we can imagine as
humans

For example, God knows if someone loses a single hair, and knows people’s thoughts
before they speak them

God is omnipresence
God is everywhere, Christians believe that God is present everywhere in the world, at all
times

The idea of an all-present God is mentioned in the bible

In the Genesis , humans are…

1. Humans are made in the image of God, not by evolution

2. Humans are sacred of holy (pinnacle of God’s creation)

3. Humans have free will

4. Humans are called to look after all creation (stewardship)

Significance of the biblical account of creation

God brings order out of chaos at the beginning of time

Humans beings are the pinnacle of creation and are made in God’s image

The story of the creation of universe was not a random event but as carefully planned and
guided

Religious Studies Part One 3

 Human life is not an accident of evolution, but intended to be made related to God

1.1.2 Non-religious explanation of the origin of

the world
Big Bang Theory
Around 15 billion years ago, all matter in the universe became so compressed that it
produced a huge explosion

The matter of the universe flew away from the explosion; stars are formed and then the
solar system

The combination of gases in the earth’s surface produced primitive life forms like
amoeba

The genetic structure of these forms produces changed aka mutation

Over millions of years, new life forms were produced leading to vegetation, then
invertebrate animals, then vertebrates and finally humans

Evidence

Space is expanding, including the redshift of light from distant galaxies

Existence of cosmic background radiation in all directions

Other information

Not all scientists agree with the theory due to the details within the process

They aren’t sure which are correct as it happened long time ago

Darwin’s theory on evolution

All living creatures exist today including human beings, have evolved over a period of
perhaps millions of years, from more primitive life forms to how they are today by a
process of natural selection

They were mutated and produced new life forms better suited to the environment leading
to more species

Over millions of years, new life forms were produced, the process is called “Natural
selection”, meaning each species has developed naturally without any need to divine
intervention

Religious Studies Part One 4

 Different religious responses
1. Fundamentalist Christians

They believe that Bible is without error in all matters, i.e. the world is created in six days,
which Big Bang is wrong as the world is only thousand years old, not millions

Similarly, the theory of evolution is also wrong, as animals evolved over large amount of
time and doesn’t fit what the bible said

They believe the scientific account of the origins of the world conflicts with the biblical
account

2. Creationist Christians

They reject evolution and believe that nature and all creatures were originated with
supernatural acts of divine creation (God)

They claimed that the fossil record can be explained by the Noah’s flood: fossils are the
remains of animal life destroyed by Noah’s flood

3. Intelligent Design Response

They think that the universe is so complex that it can’t have happened by chance, life is
too complex and specific to have evolved naturally

Must’ve been created by an intelligence designed, i.e God

They believe that God created each species separately, but allowed them to evolve
between their own species, and allow new species to develop at the same time

4. Roman Catholics and Christians who believed in compatibility response

They belied that both the scientific and biblical explanations are true, the bible story
simply shows us God created everything

The order of creation in the bible fits with the order of science, and the scientific
discoveries are providing more evidence for God

For example, Rev. Fr. George Lemaitre, a catholic priest and scientist, believed that
science and religion don’t conflict with each other: he discovered Big Bang Theory, and
he was a contemporary of Albert Einstein

The catholic church even run some research groups supporting scientific research

1.2 Human Nature and the Human condition

Religious Studies Part One 5

 Nature of Humanity:
1. Self-knowledge and rationality

2. Free will

3. Dignity

4. Sacredness

Self-knowledge and rationality

Human beings have self-knowledge, i.e. knowing who they are and why they are here

Human beings are rational, having the ability to think, understand, reason and to make
judgements based on this reason

This helps humans to weigh up actions and consequences, using their conscience and
experience to guide them

Free will
Not to do whatever humans want

Humans have free will, the ability to make moral decisions

It’s God-given, and unique to human beings

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and
so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility

The choice to disobey and to do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to the slavery of
sin

Moral responsibility: freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they
are voluntary

Sacredness
Humans are unique and holy as they are created in the image of God

“Image” and “likeness” show that human beings reflects God

In every human being, God is visible, for example to make free and rational decisions, to
love, to be willing to serve others and more

Human beings shared God’s properties including his benevolence, which prompt us to
make a good moral decision and developed our conscience

Religious Studies Part One 6

 Dignity
Worthy of respect

Have fundamental human rights, the freedom of expression, a right to food, shelter and
healthcare

Human relationship with creation

1. Dominion: power and authority over the earth

2. Stewardship: looking after something so it can be passed on to the next generation

Dominion
Power and authority over the earth

God gives human power and control over other creatures, for example we can try to
control nature, inventing technology and changing our surroundings

Stewardship
Humans are called “stewards”, which means to look after the planet so everyone can
enjoy creation

God made it clear in the bible that the right to rule give humans many responsibilities,
like:

Old Testament: treat animals humanely, farm the land kindly by not growing crops
every fiftieth year

The Parable of the Talents: Humans have the responsibility to leave the world a
better place than they have found it, and to pass it onto the next generation

Church’s teachings: people will be judged on their beliefs and how they have
fulfilled their duty as stewards of God’s earth on Judgement Day

The earth belongs to God the creator, not to humans

It must be treated with respect, not as a commodity

Human beings should protect the creation to show gratitude to God by treating his
creation well, and looking after creation is an act of “loving our neighbour”- maintaining
good environment for others to enjoy

“subdue” and “have dominion” do not mean to rule recklessly, but rather, to manage
responsibility, as God’s representatives

Religious Studies Part One 7

 How Catholics can be a good steward
1. Local/Personal level

Recycling

Using energy saving protects

Reducing road traffic and pollution

Purchasing ethically traded food and products

Protect lives

2. National level

Invest in renewable energies

Laws to promote eco-friendly business

Improved public transport

Protect wildlife and natural habitats

3. Global level

Put pressure on governments to participate global initiative to care for the environment

Protest unethical multi-nationals

Catholics and sustainability

Using the Earth’s Resources at a rate at which they can be replaced (e.g. sustainable
forests)

Repair the damage already done, reduce harmful practices like pollution, deforestation
etc. , promote renewable energy sources, reduce poverty

Different views on human’s relationship with creation

Christians
Catholics respect the intrinsic balance of creation

Not engaged in reckless exploitation of the air, water or land of the natural world

Work on conservation and sustainability of resources

Many non-Catholic Christians have similar attitudes

More teaching from the bible supported the stewardship:

Religious Studies Part One 8

 2nd Commandment: Love your neighbour as you love yourselves

Pope Benedict XVI: the environment is God’s gift to everyone, and in our use of it
we have responsibility…

Pope Francis: the world is a gift that we have freely received and must share with
others

Atheist or agnostics
Atheist: person who lacks belief in the existence of God

Agnostic: person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence of
God

Take care of the earth for the belief of utilitarianism, to ensure the happiness of the
greatest amount of people and the future of humanity

Do not believe in afterlife or any purpose to the universe

Non-religious people
Some believe that the nature of humanity is to get on with life, making life as enjoyable
as possible for their family and community in the present

Some want to preserve the environment for future generations

Other religious views

The teaching of ahimsa （不傷害） in religions, like Buddhism, Hinduism, suggests that
people should show respect and care for all living things, and avoidance of violence
towards others

Some believe that they have a responsibility to leave the planet in a good state for their
children

Some link it with the belief of karma- any harms caused will lead to harms to their own
lives

1.2.2 Animal Rights

Human uses of animals
Recreation, transportation, food, products to earn money, clothes, labour, experiment and
more

Religious Studies Part One 9

 What are animal rights?
It's the idea that non-human animals are entitled to certain basic interests such as the need
to avoid suffering

Animals have a soul

The soul is the principle of life, since animals and plants are living things, they have
souls

However, there are differentiation of souls between plants, animals and humans
according to St. Thomas Aquinas : Plants have a vegetative soul, animals have sensitive
soul, human beings have a rational soul

Because they have no rationality, animal’s soul is nothing more than stimulus and
reponse

They have no self-awareness, can’t freely love God, can’t choose to do good due to lack
of moral sense and don't possess conceptional intelligence

Christian views supporting animal research

Animals were created by God and should be valued and taken care of in a humane way

Animals have souls and therefore shouldn’t be harmed

Many experiments are performed for curiosity’s sake or cosmetic use, which is not
necessary for survival

Living harmoniously with other living things on earth should be of highest priority
(stewardship)

Christian views supporting animal research

God put human in charge of animals for human benefit, for example developing vaccines
as to cure or prevent sickness is for improving the quality of life for human beings

Christian works in prompting animal rights

“Catholic Concern for Animals” → it’s a charity group who’s mission is to advocate the
advancement of Christian respect and responsibility for animal creation with special
reference to Catholic teaching and beliefs, raise awareness of animal protection

Non- religious organizations in prompting Animal rights

Religious Studies Part One 10

 “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” (PETA) → Animals are not humans to
experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment or abuse in any other way

Meat production
For meat production, it requires land, water, crops, transportation etc.

The animals will be stunned (either mechanical, electrical or gas) to avoid suffering,
might not be treated in an ethical way during the process of breeding

Commodity: treated as products only, but if thye can’t generate products they will be
treated as trash

Alternatives: vegan meat, lab-grown meat

Pet adoption
Unethical breeding, animals might be treated as products only (commodity) and might
have poor environment and inadequate care

Conclusion
Humanity was given the responsibility to look after the animals (stewardship)

Animals shouldn’t be harmed as they have a soul that is part of the universal spirit

Animals can be used responsibly for food as they were given as a gift from god

Religious people might accept that animals can be used to save the life of a human for
example in medical testing

Religious Studies Part One 11

Religious Studies Part One 12